CAMOUFLAGE - transparent puzzle game

Camouflage North Pole is one of the first games I designed for SmartGames and it will be a hard mission to ever come up with an idea and a gameplay that is so “transparent”. The object of the game is simple and it’s always clear when you found the right solution. This aspect in combination with the theme, makes it a perfect gift, for young and old, for puzzle fanatics but also for people who normally would not consider themselves as players.

For this puzzle “Camouflage” I was also inspired by something I remembered seeing when I was a child. Someone in my family had a book of animal images. Between the normal pages, it also had transparent pages with artwork on. By turning the page over, the reader saw the animals camouflaged in their natural environment. I hope to find a copy of the book again someday, although I doubt that it would live up to my memory of it.

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME

The object of Camouflage is two-fold. The polar bears should be placed on the ice and the fish in the water. But the 6 puzzle pieces should also fit on the game board, without anyone needing to break any pieces. ;-)

Because Safari and Camouflage were developed for the brand “Smart Games” at the same time, they have many things in common. In both games you need to make sure that the animals are shown in the right locations. In Camouflage the game board changes (there are different challenge cards) but the object of the game remains the same for all challenges. In Safari the object of the game changes but the game board remains the same.

Although they don't really fit in any existing puzzle category, both games can best be classified as ‘tiling puzzles’, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_puzzle

I wanted to make games that were distinctly different from games by Thinkfun (Binary Arts). Since they were already doing a lot of transport puzzles (like Rush Hour, River Crossing, Hoppers etc), I wanted to do something else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_puzzle

SIMPLICITY

Camouflage is one of my favorite games, because it comes so close to what I find important in a good design. The concept is simple, but the resulting gameplay can be complex. And everything fits the theme, even the choice of materials. For example, the puzzle tiles are transparent, just like water and ice are.

CAMOUFLAGE BOOSTER PACK

In 2009 I made a booster pack for Camouflage with an extra puzzle piece and 60 new challenges:

You need to replace the puzzle piece of the killer whale with the new piece showing 2 seals. You can place the seals in the water or on the ice (which means everywhere on the game board). But you can only place a seal on the ice if a polar bear is not already on the same piece of ice. This makes this extension different from the original game, because now the placement of one element (the seals) depends on the placement of another element (the polar bears).

AWARDS

• Seal of Excellence 2007 (Canada): Protégez-Vous Magazine

• CTTC three star rating (Canada)

• Nomination Hamleys Toy of the Year 2006 (UK)

• Good Toy Award 2006 (UK)

• Best Puzzle Nominee 2009: GAMES Magazine (USA)

•Dr Toy's Best Vacation Product 2007 (USA)
•МОО "Экспертиза для детей ( IPO, "Examination for Children): Gold Award 2008 (Russia).jpg
•The Ombudsman for Children, Main Prize Winner category: Toys for 7-12 year (Poland) 2009

REVIEWS AND OTHER LINKS

• Camouflage on the official website of SmartGames

•www.tric-trac.net (FR): Camouflage Pôle Nord
•igrudom.ru: Северный полюс. Камуфляж.
•www.gamesfanatic.pl: Kamuflaż – Biegun Północny
•www.deskovehry.com (CZ): Recenze: Smart Games - Na ledové kře
•http://2fishki.ru/spisok_statej/golovolomki/golovolomki_bondibon_chast_1/

A time line with the year of release of all SmartGames can be found here. If you liked this game, you might also like following SmartGames with tiles or transparency: